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‘Seto Dharti’: A heartbreaking story of love, loss and hope

Anjali Tamang , Content Creator | May 4, 2023

courtesy of Google Images

“Seto Dharti” is a Nepali novel that portrays the suffering of women in traditional Nepalese society. It was published in 2012 and won the Madan Puraskar, the biggest literary award in Nepal.

“Seto Dharti” (“White Earth” in English) is a Nepali novel written by Amar Neupane that portrays the sad story of Tara, a country girl in Nepal who finds herself married to an adult against her will to uphold social standards and customs.

It was the first book I ever read in my native language so, when I first started reading it, I was taken aback by its captivating storyline and the innocent perspective of Tara, the protagonist.

Tara herself narrates her life, sharing her story from her birth as a girl in a traditional Nepalese society until her last moments. She bravely shares the childhood tragedies and heartbreaks she had buried her entire life.

I vividly recall the horror I felt when I learned of Tara’s marriage when she was only seven years old. It was even more heartbreaking to see her little sister go through the same experience.

The philosophical significance of “white earth” has a profound impact not only on Tara’s life, but to all the widows of her period. Being born as a woman was a burden in the repressive societal norms of ancient Nepal, as they had little individuality.

It was heartbreaking to see how Tara had to abandon all the apparels and bright colors she loved when she was supposed to construct an identity for herself. She was obliged to wear dull white apparels all her life because of her husband’s early death when she was just nine years old.

The envy she felt for nature because it was so vibrant, or the plain jealousy she felt for her close friend Radha for having a healthy spouse, is such a genuine emotion that Neupane has skillfully expressed via his writing.

Tara doesn’t hold back in expressing her feelings, from her crush on a childhood companion to the idea of having an unrestrained affair with men. She did nothing but contemplate and have these kinds of thoughts, but she never acted on them.

Even though I felt bad for Tara, I was more drawn to Radha since she consistently stood up for herself. The protagonist believes that Radha is her closest friend because she is everything Tara is not. She possessed the bravery Tara lacked, and despite sticking to society’s rules, Tara never found peace as Radha did by defying them. They are two opposed poles living in the same society.

Through Tara’s story, Neupane succeeded in conveying the stories of Nepalese women of that era. This tale follows a child who loses their innocence to society’s constricted norms and culture. As the story progresses, you will feel sympathy, grief, angst, pity and a variety of other feelings for Tara.

This book is a glimpse to the awful culture against women and how they have overcome all of its challenges to reach the present.

Edited by Aja Carter and LeSha’ Davis

• book review
• Nepalese society
• Nepali novel
• Seto Dharti
• White Earth

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Best Nepali novels of all time: You must-read.

If you are a person who loves to spend quality time in good books, then we have come up with the best Nepali novels of all time that you must read.

Many few know about the Nepali novels and books contain the best stories and mind-blowing content. So, we have summed up some best Nepali novels of all time for those who love Nepali literature.

If you have not yet read a single Nepali literature book, the novels mentioned below will give you a different impression and make you realize what you have missed.

So, here are the 9 best Nepali novels of all time that you can start your journey within Nepali literature.

9 Best Nepali novels of all time:

1.     karnali blues.

Karnali Blues is one of the bestselling and most rated novels. The novel is written by one of the talented Nepali authors Buddhi Sagar. The novel beautifully portrays a young boy’s struggles and different phases with his parents. It showcases the father-son relationship of a far-western region of Nepal.

2.     Palpasa Café- best Nepali Novel of all time

Palpasa café is a masterpiece of Nepali literature written by successful writer Narayan Wagle. The book depicts the Nepalese civil war declared by Maoists. The two main characters are Drishya and Palpasa.

Moreover, the novel became a bestseller and was also awarded Madan Puraskar in 2005.

3.     Muna Madan

Muna Madan is an epic, tragic love story based on the 18th century and is the best Nepali novel. The book was written by Laxmi Prasad Devkota and published around 1939. It became the bestselling novel of all time.

The story depicts the tragic- love story of Muna and Madan. The story follows the main character, Madan, who goes to foreign in search of a better job leaving his beloved wife Muna and old mother.

4.     Pagal Basti

Pagal Basti is one of the finest and best Nepali Novels of all time. The novel, written by Saru Bhakta, won Nepal’s major literary award. The story begins with a narrator’s journey to Gandruk.

However, some find it hard to understand in one reading. So, read thoroughly until you get the book’s essence because it is worth the time.

5.     Shirish Ko Phool

Shirish Ko Phool by Bishnu Kumari Waiba is one of the best Nepali novels of all time that you must read. The novel beautifully depicts war and love in a single frame.

The novel also got published in English as ‘The Blue Mimosa’.

6.     Damini Bhir

Damini Bhir by Rajan Mukarung, another masterpiece of Nepali literature, is worth reading and the Best Novel of all time. The novel portrays Nepali society’s psychology, circumstances, and cultures during the transition phase.

Further, the novel is the winner of Madan Puraskar for 2012.

7.     Seto Bagh- best Nepali Novel of all time

Seto Bagh by Diamond Shamsher is another best Nepali novel of all time on the must-read list. The novel depicts the life of the eldest son of Jung Bahadur Rana, Jagat Jung Rana.

The plot revolved around when Jung Bahadur Rana was in power and the changes after his death.

8.     Khusi

Khusi by Bijay Kumar is another best novel in Nepali literature. The novel is a collection of the author’s personal experiences about the power, money, and sex prevailing in Nepali society. Further, his masterpiece also won the Madan Puraskar.

9.     Seto Dharati

Seto Dharati, by Amar Neupane, sets back between 1850- 1950 tries to reveal the bitter truth of Nepal. Further, it portrays the early marriage system and challenges a girl has to face after the death of his husband in Nepali society back then.

Nepali literature offers a variety of brilliant books to read. And, these 9 books are only a few names from plenty of Masterpieces of Nepali literature.

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Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Blue mimosa (shirih ko phool) by parijat । book review.

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20 Reviews in 20 Years

In 999 issues the Nepali Times has reviewed hundreds of books, from political thrillers on the Maoist conflict to novels and travelogues. Excerpts from selected reviews:

The Tutor of History by Manjushree Thapa

Review by Indra Bahadur Rai ( #65 19-25 October 2001)

For us Nepali-speaking readers the Nepali world presented in the novel is in some senses a given. We proceed to read the novel with prior knowledge. This, however, should not make us complacent that we know all there is to learn about ourselves and our society. The novel having been written in English, a language alien to the community described, assumes the aspect of clinical detachment and so the picture that emerges is, in large measure, an evaluation of us. 

A mirror is held to us and the picture that results is not as we might be used to or as we might like it to be. Incidents, remarks and conversations, however seemingly stray or redundant, are organically organised and form parts of a connected whole. Thapa has, while writing the novel in English, refused to follow the easier way of catering to the taste of westerners or pandering to their preconceived notions. For her, writing is a mission, a sacred covenant between the writer and the Nepali people.

Palpasa Cafe - Narayan Wagle

Review by Kunda Dixit ( Issue #256 15-21 July 2005)

Not only is this novel as fresh as an open wound, the author’s imagination makes Nepal’s real unfolding tragedy come alive with raw urgency. The plot is rendered in a non-linear style that is experimental in the world of Nepali fiction. Wagle’s Nepali is simple, colloquial and his voice is genuine and sincere. Drishya comes across sometimes as being unnecessarily abrasive, but Palpasa is an authentic diaspora daughter caught between love for her motherland and alienation from her adopted home.

         Narayan Wagle’s book can be called an anti-war novel. It drags us to the edge and forces us to peer down at the abyss below. It is being released this weekend and is going to be talked about for a long time.

The Royal Ghosts: Stories - Samrat Upadhyay

Review by Kunda Dixit ( #308  28 July-3 August 2006)

The Royal Ghosts employs Upadhyay’s trademark prose, a bare-bones use of the English language and a minimalist style. At a time when English language novelists from the subcontinent lather their magical realist plots with self-conscious wordplay to try to be original, Upadhyay uses understated language to mirror the understated emotions of his characters. It is the difference between a line drawing and a baroque painting.

Each of the stories is woven around a plot that turns on the tensions that buffet middle class Nepali society in its headlong dash towards modernity. There are neither easy answers nor safe conclusions as the characters come to grips with arranged marriages, the generation gap, relationships, incest, mental illness and homosexuality. The sexual subtext is treated with subtlety: love lost, love unspoken, love squandered and love regained. All the while in the background are the shattering historical events of Nepal’s recent past: the royal massacre, the insurgency, pro-democracy demonstrations.

Down History’s Narrow Lanes: Sketches and Myths of the Kathmandu Valley - Desmond Doig and Dubby Bhagat

Review by Sonia Awale ( #461  24 July-30 July 2009)

The long-awaited new edition brings back to us Doig’s exquisite line drawings of Kathmandu Valley temples, bahals and stupas (carried in weekly installments in this paper from 2000-2005 under the banner ‘Saving Faith’). And it’s not just the drawings, the language also has fairy-tale quality to it with chapter titles like: ‘The Gate of the Vermilion God’, ‘Where Serpents Breathe Fire’, ‘The City Vishnu May Have Built’, ‘The Jewelled Gift of the Snake God’, The Gorge of the Flaming Sword’.

They’re about shrines we pass every day on the way to work, now dwarfed by taller, more recent constructions. It’s about festivals in our midsts. It is therefore essential reading not just for expats but also for Kathmandu residents who have forgotten about their rich heritage.

Doig and Bhagat look at the Valley’s history and myths, the shrines and courtyards of the Newari towns and their origins. Like a cherry on top are the illustrations which give the book a fairy tale aura by putting the story-telling and the sketches side-by-side. But above all, the book makes it possible for readers to sense the antecedents of this mythical land and its mysterious past.

Jeevan Kaanda ki Phool - Jhamak Kumari Ghimire

Review by Supriya Sharma ( #516  20-26 August 2010

In one of the most telling passages in the book, Ghimire refers to herself as a mother to her writing, and her desire to have her ‘children’ succeed on their own is analogous to her longing to be a worthwhile child to her own mother, and a valuable and talented member of her own society. It isn’t a stretch to say that she got what she wanted. Ghimire’s prose is lucid, her expression clear. 

Though certain passages and chapters contain redundancies that prevent them from achieving the same fluidity and poignancy that others possess, she is still able to weave in and out of memory with great ease, with sarcastic wit and a fantastic sense of humour. Her disdain for pity and the patronising attitudes around her is reflected in her desire to be known for more than her ability to write with her foot, and her continuing thirst for liberty and self-expression moves her life, and her writing, forward.

Chapamar Yubati Ko Diary -  Tara Rai

Review by Rubeena Mahato ( #579 18-24 November 2011)

At 23, Tara Rai has seen it all. She has been a guerrilla in the Maoist army, she has spent time in jail, and now she is the best-selling author of an acclaimed book that has sold eight editions in one year. As she prepares to bring out the ninth edition of Chapamar Yubati Ko Diary while working on another war-based novel, she is pensive and a bit philosophical these days. 

“I have no regrets,” she told us, “but these days I have doubts about whether the war was necessary.” Different from the usual narratives of Nepali war literature, it neither demonised the enemy nor was it over-burdened with ideology. It gave a heartfelt, honest account of a girl’s struggle as she battled adversity, forged emotional bonds with her captors and finally broke off from her party to start afresh.

The Gurkha’s Daughter - Prajwal Parajuly

Review by Shreya Thapa ( #649 29 March-4 April 2013)

Though there is some criticism to be made about the almost unoriginal content (how many more stories of low/middle-class Nepalis are we going to have to read?), Parajuly manages to succeed where many have failed: his stories are actually convincing. While others have attempted to tell the tale of everyday lives, Parajuly portrays characters and scenarios that Nepalis can identify with, non-Nepalis can learn from without being misled, and that everyone can enjoy. There is no selling out, no vanity, or pretence—all of the stories are absolutely believable.

 At first, the tales may leave you unsatisfied—one questions if the author didn’t reach the depths he could have. But it becomes quickly apparent that wanting more is the carefully crafted effect of realistic characters who instill emotional attachments.

Kamlari Dekhi Sabhasad Samma (Nepali) - Shanta Chaudhari

Review by Samman Humagain 

( #670 23-29 August 2013)

After the CA was dissolved, Shanta decided to write about her life. And what a life. Told in simple, heartfelt sentences, you have to fight back tears as you learn of the tragic injustice that little girls like Shanta had to suffer. But there is little bitterness or resentment here, only a determination to set things right. Between the lines, you get a glimpse of the fierce fortitude of this remarkable woman.

A Home in Tibet - Tsering Wangmo Dhompa

Review by Kunda Dixit ( #673  13-19 September 2013)

It is difficult to read A Home in Tibet without a deep dull ache inside when you come to sentences like these: ‘Here in Tibet live the people my mother taught me to love before I met them. We are family, and love has undetermined aptitude and great hunger.’ You need not be Tibetan to recognise the universal emptiness of homelessness, and the joys of reunion with one’s roots. Confront cruelty with kindness, harshness with hope, seems to be Tsering Wangmo’s message as she ends the book with a final prayer: ‘There is great strength in believing that things will eventually right themselves. Because they must.

The Living Goddess - Isabella Tree

Review by Kunda Dixit ( #701  4-10 April 2014)

Because it is written by a journalist, The Living Goddess is heavy on research and interviews as it delves into the cultural history of the tradition of the living goddess. There is not a lot of it that is new there, but Tree digs deeper to investigate the symbolism and faith that has allowed the Kumari tradition to evolve and survive several regime changes in Kathmandu in the past centuries.

Tree goes back to the history of the Malla dynasty in Kathmandu Valley and the Shah kings from Gorkha who conquered them in 1767. The Kumari tradition may have emerged as a Mahayana Buddhist practice, but is inextricably tied with the Devi-worship of Hindu kings and the emergence of Kathmandu as a centre of tantric beliefs and rituals. For Prithvi Naryan Shah to arrive at Hanuman Dhoka Palace on the day of Indra Jatra and touch the feet of the Kumari was a dramatic public relations move, and attempt to ensure that the Valley that he had finally conquered would accept him as king.

Battles of the New Republic - Prashant Jha

Review by Anurag Acharya ( #711 13-19 June 2014)

Battles of the New Republic is a meticulously researched book, a tale of aspiration, conviction and empowerment, as well as about anger and dejection with hopes dashed. The plot is almost cinematic with an array of emotions including passion, empathy, ambition, envy, greed, lust, betrayal and revenge. In that sense it is a political thriller.

Jha ends with a note of hope, a tinge of optimism, to remind us of the momentous changes to which he had a ringside seat.  

Kathmandu - Thomas Bell

Review by  David Seddon ( #727  10-16 October 2014)

The first part of the book explores the city as mandala or microcosm, in part through the attempts of successive (mainly Western) scholars to ‘unpeel’ the history and pre-history of the ancient Malla kingdoms, and in part through visits by the author himself to parts of the city where the past still permeates the present as in the structure and layout of the buildings, the narrow lanes and choks, the temples and the monasteries.

 The ancient trade routes are still visible in the street plans of Kathmandu and Patan. ‘The mandala is more than a map of the city. It is a social and political ideology, a description of the order of the universe, which is repeated in a well-ordered city here on earth.’         

Bell’s  Kathmandu  is part of the wider Nepali political economy, and while his central preoccupation is with the city itself, he does not confine himself to it. Nor is he only concerned with buildings and structures, as a journalist his main source of information is conversations. He talks with all and sundry: with Maoists in the field, with politicians, with members of the army and the police, with expatriates. He listens to the ordinary and extraordinary citizens of Kathmandu, who speak often with great authority and insight.

Lost in Transition - Kul Chandra Gautam

Review by Rubeena Mahato  ( #785 4-10 December 2015)

Lost In Transition attempts to dig deeper and presents a more nuanced and sensible understanding of our problems with clear and detailed way-forwards. Despite the heaviness of the subject matter, it is a tremendously hopeful book, laying in concrete terms a roadmap with which Nepal can prosper and achieve stability. The epilogue of the book discusses the Indian blockade and what Nepal can do to initiate negotiations and secure its interests against larger and hostile neighbours.

What carries the book beyond its rigour is its sincerity and impassioned defense of democratic values and principles. At the very beginning one gets a glimpse of what inspires the writer. With an earnestness characteristic of his humble beginnings from a village in Gulmi, Gautam speaks of an identity that binds all Nepalis, a pursuit of shared prosperity for themselves and their children. And it is this desire to leave a better Nepal behind for future generations, that resonates throughout the book.

City of Dreams - Pranaya SJB Rana

Review by Rabi Thapa ( #789 1-7 January 2016)

Why should a book review begin in such didactic fashion? You may only want to know if City of Dreams is good, or bad. But in freely indulging himself in both social realism and fable, Pranaya SJB Rana (pic) has rather forced this reviewer to approach his debut collection of short stories crab-like, each pincer holding up a quite different species of fictive āhārā.

In truth, I dove straight in. The eponymous opener, about a man who likes to walk the streets of Kathmandu, and the next, about a man who stumbles across an intermittent muse on the streets of New York, sucked me into a phantasmagoric landscape strongly reminiscent of Calvino and Borges, both declared inspirations of Rana. The stories charmed me, just as the author’s winning entry to this year’s Writing Nepal had, which told of a man who can’t stop taking photos. I was convinced Rana had grown tired of documenting – perhaps he felt enough had been made of the preoccupations of Kathmandu’s middle class – particularly given the visceral realism of earlier stories of his. The prose was accomplished, the possibilities rich; I felt a rare excitement.

Thamel: Dark Star of Kathmandu - Rabi Thapa

Review by Smriti Basnet ( #854 14-20 April 2017)

Thamel is a poignant tale of the city we lost to time. Thapa reminisces about the good old days. His almost lyrical words transport the readers to a bygone era, away from its concrete present (‘… the new, brash Thamel that spins every which way from Narsingh Chowk fades from the senses, giving way to a typical Newar tol of cramped brick houses with tiled roofs …’).

         Interspersed with accounts of real people – a recovering junkie, a band member, a sex worker, a nonagenerian shopkeeper who has been witness to changes in the area and many other interesting lives – he lays Thamel’s soul bare. For a book that has covered the area and its multiple facets, it is surprisingly not a complicated read. What adds extra value and depth are the small excerpts from works of King Pratap Malla, Shakespeare, Nietzche, different proverbs and text at the beginning of the chapters written by the author.

Singha Durbar: Rise and Fall of the Rana Regime of Nepal - Sagar SJB Rana

Review by Kunda Dixit ( #861 2-8 June 2017)

This inter-generational involvement of a Rana in Nepal’s democratic politics makes Singha Durbar: Rise and Fall of the Rana Regime of Nepal a compelling and unprejudiced history of Nepal’s other royal family from 1847-1951. Sourced from archival material, historical memoirs in Nepali, interviews with members of the Rana clan, and an unpublished diary of his father, Sagar Rana’s book is meticulously researched and in places moves like a thriller.

The Wayward Daughter - Shradha Ghale

Review by Sewa Bhattarai ( #939  21-27 December)

The Wayward Daughter succeeds in her deliberate attempt to portray a rich cross-section of Nepali society, showing how caste, class, and gender influence everyday life in Kathmandu. The story is about growing up in a multifarious, almost dystopian world that Nepal has become. Youngsters abandon traditions for modernity, as they prepare to go abroad for higher studies. 

Healed -Manisha Koirala

Review by Rupa Joshi ( #939  21-17 December 2018)

She was just 19 when she starred in her first movie in Bollywood. As a fresh face from the mountains and with her enormous talent, Manisha Koirala shone in the Indian film industry in the 1990s, winning many prestigious awards. At one point in her busy career, she was doing a dozen movies a year, working exhausting 18-hour days. Fast forward to 2012 through a string of unsuccessful romances and films, a failed marriage, and alcoholism, Manisha came face to face with death.

In 2012, she was diagnosed with last-stage ovarian cancer. How she dealt with the crisis and how she came out a survivor, extricating herself not just out of the clutches of the disease, but also the rut that her life had fallen into, is the dominant theme in her new book Healed.

Manisha’s tale meanders through the darkness of her feelings of fear, panic and pain and oscillates between glimmers of hope and shadows of hopelessness.  It is a book of self-discovery, where the author honestly and minutely analyses her own life, her decisions, her ‘toxic relationships’ and  mistakes. It combs through events and people that shaped her, and allowed her to overcome the disease.

The Beauty of Purposeful Living: Living Traditions of Nepal - Judith Conant Chase

Review by Kunda Dixit ( #985 22-28 November 2019)

The voluminous 440-page, coffee table book is superbly illustrated and designed, and divided into sections representing the Himal, Midhills, Tarai and Kathmandu Valley. The text is arranged like extended captions, and interspersed with extracts from Chase’s journal of four decades ago. Chase decided to use her journal entries because the words recorded her feelings more accurately at the time, making the memories so much more real.

One such extract, after seeing a sadhu at Pashupati on Shivaratri: ‘I feel invigorated, intoxicated, inspired, as if being in love. There is a whole way of being in the world that I had only sensed dimly… There is a feeling of a secret that everyone else knows that I am just beginning to glimpse, frustrating and enticing together.’

Nepal Nexus - Sudheer Sharma

Review by Alisha Sijapati ( #997  14-20 February 2020)

Nepal Nexus , the English translation and updated version of the 2013 bestseller Prayogshala by editor Sudheer Sharma, offers readers a vivid account of Nepal’s ten-year conflict, the 2006 people’s movement, the fragile transition that followed, to the Maoists’ subsequent rise to power. The English version was translated by Sanjaya Dhakal for Penguin India and released last year.

         Sharma, who was and is once more the editor of Kantipur, begins with a personal account of his experience as a war reporter during the time of the state-Maoist conflict. Although he describes the book as an inside account of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the reader finds it more of an account of Prachanda’s rise to power, and only tangentially of the party he led.  Sharma has a soft corner for Prachanda, and does not conceal his sympathies for the erstwhile revolutionaries. ‘It is my view that the major credit for restructuring the state should go to the Maoists,’ may come across to many as giving too much credit to the CPN(M) for what was essentially a violent shortcut to power. To be fair, the journalist in Sharma tries to be objective and balance his views with those of others with explanations, experiences, and interviews.

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Book Review Of The Month: PhirPhire

By Sagar Giri

Since, I am Nepali novel reader, “ PhirPhire ” was the most awaited novel for me. When the writer announced the release date of this book, I was really excited wanted to buy the book once it was available for purchase. But, due to board exams, I couldn't buy the books in time. As soon as my exams were over, I grabbed a copy and I couldn't believe that the book was in my hands.

“ PhirPhire ” is the second novel by famous Nepali fiction writer, Buddhi Sagar Chapain . His first fiction novel “ Karnali Blues ” was a huge success and it's my favorite one too. In Nepali literature, Buddhi Sagar is mostly renowned for his stories and poems. His second novel “ PhirPhire ” got a lot of hype through many Nepali readers before it was released. Buddhi Sagar is best known for his recital way of telling the story. His unique way of story telling is quite popular among the readers and this keeps the reader surrounded by the story all the time.

“ PhirPhire ” starts with the ending i.e. it tells the story in a flash back memory of the writer. The novel is about the story of two ordinary boys, Pawan and Basanta and their innocent friendship. The story starts when Basanta decides to go to his village after 15 years to see his house for the last time before it is demolished. The story ends after Basanta leaves the village and returns to his life. In between, Basanta , the story narrator begins the journey to the past; the past which he always wanted to forget. He unfolds the nostalgic memory of his childhood and the story of his best friend Pawan who becomes a prey to village politics, superstitions and losing his memory in the process.

This story is multi layered with the stories of the loving Juthiaama , the snake killer of the village, Chilgadi , the stumble bum,  Rocky Dada, Pawan's first love, Munmun , The boat rider of village, Pichku Majhi , the village witch doctor, Kohinoor. All these colorful characters please and amaze the readers in equal measure throughout the book. Every person whom Basanta and Pawan met has a unique story behind their life. The Narrator tells about their lifestyle, their language and their livelihood.

The story plot moves in this way, here Pawan and Basnta are best friends since childhood. Basanta has lost his father and Pawan lost his mother. Basanta tells how a widowed husband takes care of his children and the difference between taking care of children by a alone mother and by alone father. Pawan doesn't even remember his mother's face and it is the similar case with Basanta’s memory of his father. Narrator tells about the problems that Pawan faces like not receiving proper food, basic needs, mother’s love and other’s. Pawan often complains Basanta about not receiving a mother’s care, while Basanta tries to make him feel comfortable by diverting his mind and making him play with the Phir-Phire (a hand made fan made up of a leaf which rotates when wind blows) with his lovely company. They often quarrel with each other, yet they always have each other’s shoulders to lean on when something bad happens. They are incomplete without each other. The narrator beautifully portrays the relationship between father and son, brother and sister, best friends and finally a mother and son.

The unexpected turn of events and the feeling of “what happens next?” didn't make me feel bored. The 540 (approx.) pages didn't feel like a burden to me as the story and the plot was set on my mind. While reading “ PhirPhire ”, sometimes my eyes became wet, sometimes I laughed and sometimes I became sad by the stories of the characters.

There are some errors in the book, some misprints but it really doesn't matter when the story is as good as this is. Written in a sweet and simple language, the story of PhirPhire oozes out to bring back the nostalgic memories of our individual pasts. It is a must read book if you are a Nepali Fiction reader.

My rating: 9.5/10.

SAKAR SHARMA

• Book Review

SUMMER LOVE BOOK REVIEW

 summer love book review.

Aatit arrives at the Central Department of Environmental Science [CDES], Kirtipur, to see his entrance result posted on the notice board. At the top, he sees the name Saaya Shakya. He is really curious to see her after hearing her name. He fell in love with her the moment he saw her. Following this, the two begin to fall in love. Slowly but steadily, the romance blossoms into love. They had been in a relationship for over two years. They get jobs in various places after finishing college. Saaya is hired in a foreign country, while Aatit is hired outside of the Kathmandu valley.

What happens when they leave for the workplace is a mystery. Will the love last or will it be destroyed? Will it last until though they've left for other parts of the world?

I always liked the book and the novel. After finishing the book, I wondered why the author, Subin, did not write the sequel. The ending piqued my interest in what will happen after the incident. The ending is open-ended, which helped me worry a lot and left me with a lot of questions. The ending made me wonder if the author didn't write in a different style. If he had made more suspense and mystery than it could be more fun to read.

Overall, the book is good. Must be read once. It doesn’t bore the reader and feels like watching the movie.

Posted by Sakar Sharma

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Critic Bethanne Patrick recommends 10 promising titles, fiction and nonfiction, to consider for your April reading list.

April’s book releases cover some difficult topics, including Salman Rushdie discussing his 2022 maiming, Leigh Bardugo’s fiction about the dark arts and Ada Limón’s poetry anthology about our fragile world. However, like April, there is also sunshine: Leif Enger’s wild Great Lakes love story, Helen Tworkov’s beautiful memoir of Buddhism and a collection of the inimitable Maggie Nelson’s essays. Happy reading, happy spring!

I Cheerfully Refuse: A Novel By Leif Enger Grove Press: 336 pages, $28 (April 2)

An unusual and meaningful surprise awaits readers of Enger’s latest, which takes place largely on Lake Superior, as a man named Rainy tries to reunite with his beloved wife, Lark. While the world around this couple, a dystopian near-future American where billionaires control everything, could not be bleaker, the author’s retelling of the myth of Orpheus (who went to the underworld to rescue his wife) contains the authentic hope of a born optimist.

The Familiar: A Novel By Leigh Bardugo Flatiron Books: 400 pages, $30 (April 9)

Bardugo departs from novels of dark academia in a standalone to make the hairs on your neck stand up, set in 16th century Spain. A hidden Sephardic Jew and scullery maid named Luzia Cotado matches wits with fellow servant Guillén Santángel. Luzia discovers a secret of Guillén’s, but she’s already fallen in love with him. And because he knows hers, too, they might both avoid the Spanish Inquisition. It’s a gorgeous tale of enchantments both supernatural and earthly.

The Sleepwalkers: A Novel By Scarlett Thomas Simon & Schuster: 304 pages, $28 (April 9)

A couple honeymoons at a Greek resort. What could go wrong? In Thomas’ hands, plenty – especially as the author has never written a comfortable story; her books, from “PopCo ” to “Oligarchy,” crackle with unreliable characters, as well as big philosophical ideas. In this case, the new marriage’s breakdown is chronicled through letters between the spouses, and sometimes bits of ephemera, that ultimately untangle a dark mystery relating to the title.

The Garden: A Novel By Clare Beams Doubleday: 304 pages, $28 (April 10)

Few novels of literary fiction are written as well as “The Garden,” let alone given its sadly relevant retro setting, a 1940s country-estate obstetrical program. Irene Willard walks through its gates having endured five miscarriages; pregnant again, she and her war-veteran husband George desperately hope for a live birth. But as Irene discovers more about the woman who controls all here, Dr. Bishop, she fears carrying to term as much as she once feared pregnancy loss.

Reboot: A Novel By Justin Taylor Pantheon: 304 pages, $28 (April 23)

David Crader, former teen TV heartthrob, just wants to reboot his career when his old show “Rev Beach” has a moment. His life has devolved through substance abuse, divorce and underemployment. But when he and colleagues launch a remake, devolution continues: The protagonist’s struggles are mirrored by climate-change issues, from flooding to wildfires. Despite that darkness, Taylor’s gift for satire might make this a must-read for 2024 beach bags.

You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World By Ada Limón (Editor) Milkweed Editions: 176 pages, $25 (April 2)

A wondrous artist herself, Limón is currently poet laureate of the United States, and this anthology is part of her signature project, “You Are Here,” which will also feature poetry as public art in seven national parks. Released in conjunction with the Library of Congress, the collection features 50 previously unpublished poems by luminaries including Jericho Brown, Joy Harjo, Carl Phillips and Diane Seuss, each focusing on a piece of regional landscape.

Like Love: Essays and Conversations By Maggie Nelson Graywolf Press: 336 pages, $32 (April 2)

While all of the pieces in Nelson’s new book have previously been published elsewhere, they’re made fresh here both through being collected and through their chronological placement. Readers can practically watch Nelson’s incisive mind growing and changing as she speaks with colleagues such as Hilton Als and Judith Butler, or as she writes about queerness, motherhood, violence, the lyrics of Prince and the devastating loss of a friend.

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder By Salman Rushdie Random House: 204 pages, $28 (April 16)

On Aug. 12, 2022, the author Salman Rushdie was speaking at upstate New York’s Chautauqua festival when a man rushed the stage and attempted to murder him. Rushdie, a target of Iranian religious leaders since 1989, was permanently injured. In this book, he shares his experience for the first time, having said that this was essential for him to write. In this way, he answers violence with art, once again reminding us all that freedom of expression must be protected.

Lotus Girl: My Life at the Crossroads of Buddhism and America By Helen Tworkov St. Martin’s Essentials: 336 pages, $29 (April 16)

Dworkov, founder of the magazine Tricycle, chronicles her move from a 1960s young-adult interest in Buddhism to travels through Asia and deep study in the United States of the different strands that follow the Buddha’s teachings. Tworkov mentions luminaries such as the artist Richard Serra, the composer Charles Mingus and the Dalai Lama, but she’s not name dropping. Instead, she’s strewing fragrant petals from her singular path to mindfulness that may help us find ours.

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War By Erik Larson Crown: 592 pages, $35 (April 30)

Even diehard Civil War aficionados will learn from Larson’s look at the six months between Lincoln’s 1860 election and the surrender of Union troops under Maj. Robert Anderson at Charleston’s Ft. Sumter. Larson details Anderson’s secret Christmas redeployment and explores this individual’s contradictions as a former slave owner who loyally follows Lincoln’s orders. The author also shares first-person perspective from the famous diaries of the upper-class Southerner Mary Chesnut. All together, the book provides a riveting reexamination of a nation in tumult.

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Book: Radha Author:  Krishna Dharabasi Publisher:  XlibrisUS ISBN:  9781543470109 Genre:  Fiction Pages: 354 Summarized by: Wilson Shrestha

The novel differs from the traditional Krishna fable in two significant ways: first, it is told from the perspective of a woman; and second, the story is moved out of the realm of myth and into a more realistic context. The Mahabharat, an ancient epic text, provides much of the source material for Radha. Readers who are unfamiliar with Radha and Krishna’s love tale may find it difficult to get into the flow of the novel after a few pages. Even those who are unfamiliar with the myth will be lured into the story thanks to Mr. Paudyal’s informative introduction and gripping translation.

An ancient manuscript is discovered at the start of the book. The story of Radha and Krishna begins after some time spent looking for someone who can understand the manuscript. Krishna’s story is a classic Hindu myth, and many readers will be familiar with the fundamental plot. Nonetheless, Radha’s journal swiftly departs from the myth’s depiction of Krishna as a celestial figure. He and Radha live in a world that is as real as possible while remaining true to the myth’s overarching structure. The relationships and the narrative itself take on a whole new meaning with Radha as a guide through this universe. Radha highlights out how society treats women unfairly throughout her writings, and how women are often involved in the treatment they and other women experience. Moreover, despite her affection for Krishna since they were toddlers, she points out his flaws and criticizes the way he is brought up as the potential ruler. She commiserates with his wives, whom he abuses badly at times. Krishna, as seen through Radha’s eyes, becomes human, and his divinity fades away. While Krishna keeps breaking promises to return to Radha, she emerges as a strong woman capable of carving out a life for herself.

Mr. Paudyal feels that Radha belongs to “a Nepali school of critical thinking” that “says life is a leela – a theatre of illusions – as is the life of Krishna himself.” Mr. Paudyal is referring to the deconstruction of the Krishna myth in the book. While adhering to many of the traditional Krishna stories, the work gently questions those stories by its feminine perspective, sly language, and upending of the myth’s traditions. Those who are familiar with the Mahabharat will identify much of this subtle deception right away, while those who are new to the world may need to familiarize themselves with the original narrative.

Radha is a difficult work that will test readers on many levels. People who are familiar with the Krishna tale are encouraged to reconsider their perspectives. People who are unfamiliar with the Krishna narrative are invited to join a realm that may appear to be foreign to them. Dedicated readers, on the other hand, will discover a universality to the story that transcends the specific, as well as a narrative that questions the distinction between reality and illusion.

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It would Be Great If You Have Translation Version in Nepali Too. Now a days Students are getting assignment regarding Book,Movie, Story etc review in Nepali Subject Too. This would help a lot to those students who can’t study a whole book and it would save time of students too.

Interesting and I think it is good for us to have it

‘I Cheerfully Refuse’ is the sweetest apocalyptic novel yet

Leif enger enters a crowded field with a novel that tries to be just about everything.

T.S. Eliot claimed, “This is the way the world ends/ Not with a bang but a whimper.” That whimper is the sound of me being buried under novels about it.

This week I’m recovering from one apocalyptic novel , reviewing a new one, reading a forthcoming one and wearily eyeing two more. Clearly, we’ve arrived at the future in which everyone writes about the collapse of civilization for 15 minutes. If the world is really about to end, I wish it would hurry up.

The strange thing about doomsday, though, is its infinite adaptability. Note, for instance, how graciously the eschatology of previous millennia swelled to accommodate fears of nuclear annihilation in the 20th century. And now climate change, seasoned with a soupçon of political tyranny, promises to cook all our anxieties in a final vat of despondency. The result is a literary doom loop that keeps spinning faster. Over the last few years, I’ve read so many dystopian novels that I had to look up the plural spelling of “apocalypse.”

It’s comforting to imagine that the persistence of this bleak genre is a perverse kind of optimism: Despero, ergo sum! After all, we’ve survived long enough for Sandra Newman to publish a retelling of “1984” called “ Julia .” When I first read George Orwell’s terrifying book in the 1970s, I worried we’d never make it to 1984, let alone to the 21st century.

But now that Leif Enger has written an apocalyptic novel, the world may actually be coming to an end. Enger, you’ll remember, launched his career in early September 2001 with a mega-bestseller called “Peace Like a River” — an inspiring adventure about a family that regularly experiences miracles. As the twin towers smoldered, coldblooded critics recoiled at his novel’s unabashed spirituality, but I thought it was divine.

Almost 25 years later, Enger’s idealism is contending with a world even grimmer than the Armageddon envisioned at the end of a Trump-branded Bible . His new novel, titled “ I Cheerfully Refuse ” (a bit too on the nose), describes a future swamped by climate change, economic disparity and political decay. Sixteen wealthy families — so out of touch that they’re referred to as “astronauts” — own all the “mineral rights and satellite clusters and news factories and prisons and most clean water and such shipping as remained.” How comfortingly familiar!

But other trendlines from our time have reached their inevitable conclusion in the wasteland Enger describes: Pandemics have thinned the population. Indentured servitude is back in vogue, and the government provides “compliance therapeutics” to keep workers docile and obedient. Nitrous oxide has become a common form of self-medication, and that’s the least of it: A drug called Willow, “a rising star in the market of despair,” is ingested by individuals, entire families and sometimes whole neighborhoods to take their own lives.

Naturally, these calamities have been ushered in by a deep suspicion of learning, particularly of literature. Fundamentalists have closed universities, so-called “patriots” have defunded libraries, and what’s left of America has elected the country’s “first proudly illiterate president.” (Second, but who’s counting?)

But for many pages, “I Cheerfully Refuse” treats all this horror as mere background. Our narrator is a classic Enger mensch: an exceedingly sanguine bass player named Rainy who lives near Lake Superior. He’s a large man with a big heart, desperate to love and determined to see the best in everyone. Despite the dismal condition of the world, he’s managed to carve out a happy existence full of good friendship and deep appreciation for simple pleasures in the twilight of civilization. There’s nothing saccharine or insincere about Rainy’s quixotic demeanor, though he sometimes risks sounding like Mister Rogers enjoying an ice cream cone in a hellscape designed by Hieronymus Bosch.

Chief among Rainy’s blessings is his delightful wife, Lark, an iconoclastic woman who runs a bookstore at a time when bookstores regularly receive bomb threats. She has a voice “like a river’s edge where the water turns back on itself, orbits quietly, proceeds downstream in laughter.” Sounds lovely, if a little damp. But anyhow, she’s the one who, during the early days of their courtship, introduced Rainy to the pleasures of reading. In a great blur of romantic enthusiasm, he read everything she recommended. “I banged and barged through dozens and hundreds of books,” he says. “Did I understand it? Not by half, but when it thunders you know your chest is shaking.”

Nobody describes profound joy or “blazing love” with such infectious abandon as Enger, and it’s a pleasure to be back under his influence. Unsurprisingly, Barnes & Noble has just chosen “I Cheerfully Refuse” as its next national book club pick. But be forewarned: Maniacal forces looming in the shadows of this novel will not stay in abeyance for long. About 80 pages into “I Cheerfully Refuse,” a grisly murder shatters Rainy’s equilibrium and veers the novel into much darker territory. This is not out of character for Enger; for all its sprinklings of New Age glitter, “Peace Like a River” revolved around the killing of two thugs. But in this new novel — so initially resilient to bad news — the death that shatters Rainy’s life feels as traumatic as the shooting of Bambi’s mother.

“No doubt,” Rainy says, “you see where this is headed,” which is the funniest line in the book because it’d be easier to predict the trajectories of eight puppies. Even Rainy doesn’t see where this is headed as he flees his home and launches out on Lake Superior in a small antique sailboat. Without knowing exactly why, he’s running from an elderly but implacable fiend who reportedly hasn’t slept in 42 years.

Enger casts this adventure as an Orphean quest, but once Rainy takes on a young sidekick who’s also on the lam, the enterprise feels like “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” reconceived by Cormac McCarthy. Blowing around Lake Superior with a toy compass and an incomplete chart book, Rainy and his elfin companion manage to stay a few miles ahead of their mysterious pursuer in a black cruiser. Periodically, they dock at towns clinging to social order with varying degrees of success, and this travelogue through a ruined world will eventually give way to an even stranger section where Rainy’s good will is challenged in increasingly gruesome ways.

Rainy, so good, so virtuous, so devoted to innocence, is the first to admit that he makes “a shaky protagonist,” but the novel exhibits its own tremors sparked by incongruent tones and disparate storylines. This is a book whose margins strain to corral marital bliss and executions, goofy optimism and torture, natural beauty and pedophilia, bonhomie and lynchings. Indeed, at times “I Cheerfully Refuse” sounds like your ear buds are picking up every other audiobook on the subway — murder mystery, fairy tale, picaresque adventure, dystopian horror and more.

But give in to Enger’s voyage and, as you get your sea legs, you’ll come to understand these apparent incongruities not as a problem of narrative but as a proposition for survival. Rainy has rigorously adopted the philosophy of his wife, who once described herself as “probably doomed and perplexingly merry.” Given the health of the planet, what else can we do but “refuse Apocalypse in all its forms and work cheerfully against it,” because once we stop refusing, it is all over.

In his previous novels, Enger may have whistled past the cemetery, but this time he’s digging deeper and even dancing with the bones. As Rainy sails out into our future, his leaky hull is stocked with Emerson’s old transcendental self-reliance. What sounds like magical thinking is really a tempered sword of existential glee.

Does the world need a sweet apocalyptic novel? Is such a thing even possible? This doomsday in daffodils will surely exasperate some readers, but for others — myself included — it offers an alluring itinerary toward hope.

Ron Charles reviews books and writes the Book Club newsletter for The Washington Post. He is the book critic for “CBS Sunday Morning.”

I Cheerfully Refuse

By Leif Enger

Grove. 329 pp. $28

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Nepali novels are a vibrant and diverse form of literature that has been gaining popularity in recent years. Nepali literature has a long history, with early works dating back to the 12th century, but the novel as a distinct literary form is a relatively new addition to Nepali literature. 

Nepali novels cover a wide range of themes and genres, from historical fiction to romance, from social commentary to science fiction. Some of the most well-known Nepali novelists include B.P. Koirala, Krishna Dharabasi, Parijat, and Diamond Shumsher Rana.

B.P. Koirala's "Sumnima" is considered one of the most influential Nepali novels of the 20th century. The novel tells the story of Sumnima, a young woman from a rural village, and her struggle to find her place in a rapidly changing society. The novel is known for its vivid descriptions of Nepali life and culture, and for its exploration of themes such as gender roles, class, and modernization.

Krishna Dharabasi's "Radha" is another widely acclaimed Nepali novel, which tells the story of Radha, a young woman who falls in love with a man from a different caste. The novel explores themes such as caste, gender, and identity, and is known for its lyrical prose and vivid descriptions of Nepali life and culture.

Parijat's "Shirish ko Phool" is another popular Nepali novel, which tells the story of a young woman named Hiranya, who is struggling to come to terms with the death of her husband. The novel explores themes such as grief, loss, and identity, and is known for its lyrical prose and its exploration of the lives of women in Nepali society.

Overall, Nepali novels offer a rich and diverse literary tradition that is both reflective of Nepali life and culture and also explores universal themes and experiences that resonate with readers from all backgrounds.

सेतो धरती [Seto Dharati]

Amar neupane , अमर न्यौपाने.

380 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

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Amar Neupane

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A Novelist Comes Home to Bury Her Words, and Brings Them Back to Life

In Julia Alvarez’s “The Cemetery of Untold Stories,” a boneyard in the Dominican Republic becomes a rich wellspring for discarded narratives.

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By Luis Alberto Urrea

Luis Alberto Urrea’s most recent novel is “Good Night, Irene.”

THE CEMETERY OF UNTOLD STORIES , by Julia Alvarez

The best stories live within us long after the final word; characters and places continue beyond the lines on a page. Yet the image of all the unfinished, unsatisfying, impossible stories we leave in our wakes haunts the writer as well as the reader. And with more than 20 books published across a three-decade career, no one may be haunted more than Julia Alvarez.

The hero of Alvarez’s seventh novel, Alma Cruz, is a writer from the Dominican Republic who has come to the United States and created a literary life, beginning with critically acclaimed books about the motherland and evolving into a chronicler of life in the U.S.A. (Longtime readers of Alvarez’s work will recognize her own trajectory, from her early classics like “How the García Girls Lost Their Accents” and “In the Time of the Butterflies” through poetry, memoir, children’s books and more.)

The famous author has always wrestled shadow and sunlight, laughter and agony, into tales that sometimes felt like ghost stories. Readers knew to seek the truths behind the narrative — to find sorrow in the funniest scenes, or the unexpected outburst of joy in a somber one. Of course, I am speaking about Alma Cruz. (But also, Julia Alvarez.)

One day, Alma decides she has had enough with the fame game, the big career and its ups and downs. She comes to a lovely conclusion: It is time to return to the homeland she fled, and she will take all the drafts of her unfinished or unpublished books and lay them to rest there, giving each a proper burial. She buys a plot of land and begins to build a graveyard.

The locals become a fantastic choir of curious, suspicious, baffled neighbors: One rumor has it that “the place will be a resort, which would provide employment for maids, gardeners, waiters, cooks, watchmen”; another imagines “a grand house, complete with a swimming pool, a tennis court, a mini putting green.” Still another posits, “A baseball academy would be a dream come true for the tigueritos roaming the streets. Keep them out of trouble.” But when they realize Alma is building a graveyard, the outburst is comedic: a cemetery! Fear of zombies immediately clashes with the fear of homeless people defecating in mausoleums — and what kinds of jobs, by the way, are there in a boneyard? They have more reckoning to do when they realize Alma intends to put her stories in the ground, literally.

Word goes out that the great author has returned, and the locals flock to her like butterflies, everyone eager to share. A festival of storytelling breaks out in the tropics. Are the neighbors hoping to bury their own or are they giving life to tales untold? No matter. Rumors and gossip, histories and familial dramas swirl around Alma. “A little bird told me. Había una vez. Cuentan los viejos. Some scandal on the news, who is sleeping with whom, what fulano has done or said to fulana, a juicy chisme, a hot rumor. …” Amid the chatter, Alma’s own stories, the ones she has come home to bury, somehow find their place.

Soon Alma is meeting with architects, and more characters join in the cumbia of story — the dueling Perla and Filomena, who have not spoken for 30 years but keep each other’s phone numbers just in case. It is a shadowy feud, of course: “Way back, Filomena destroyed Perla’s peace of mind. The story has been buried so deep, it should have rotted into oblivion. But like Lazarus in la Biblia, it keeps coming back to life.”

Indeed. Here comes the fabulous Bienvenida (it means “Welcome”), with her tragic history that Alma cannot resist. She was once, you see, the wife of the dictator, Trujillo, a loyal and devoted first lady who is cast aside when she is unable to produce an heir. Eventually, El Jefe falls for the charms of another woman — “jealous and possessive, with a will equal to his own” — and Bienvenida’s “death knell comes when this mistress gives birth to a son.”

Men and boys, too, join in with their dramas and secrets, pride and regrets. As voices and stories are set free, it feels like a carnival, a festival. Alma’s first-person voice is jostled. We do not care; we are already in the warm sun and the sea wind and the cooking smells and the music of the dance.

As the book accelerates, the characters seem to become their own novelists. They rewrite their lives, they revise their histories, they reinvent their ongoing myths even as Alma is planning to bury her own stories in their troubled, sacred earth. Only an alchemist as wise and sure as Alvarez could swirl the elements of folklore and the flavor of magical realism around her modern prose and make it all sing.

The camino that “The Cemetery of Untold Stories” travels — from Vermont to the Dominican Republic, from literary fame to chosen retreat, from modern American writing to a profoundly Latin American tone — is lively, joyous, full of modern details and old tall tales. Any reader with roots and ancestors in other lands lives in a multiple-narrative story, one that we try to share with everyone, though we have to translate it. Yet we also go back to the ancestral home, and find ourselves translating our Yanqui life as well. Which story is the truest?

This often witty, occasionally somber and elegiac novel begins with a simple exhortation, in English: “Tell me a story.” It ends on a melancholy and evocative note. Spoiler alert: Another single line, this time in Spanish after the last page concludes, announces, “Este cuento se ha acabado.” (This story has ended.) A definitive slam of the door.

THE CEMETERY OF UNTOLD STORIES | By Julia Alvarez | Algonquin | 256 pp. | $28

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Book Review: ‘City of Ruins’ completes a masterful Don Winslow trilogy

This image released by William Morrow shows “City in Ruins” by Don Winslow. (William Morrow via AP)

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Years ago, when novelist Don Winslow first read Aeschylus, he recognized that the Greek father of literary tragedies had explored every major theme found in modern crime fiction, from murder, vengeance, and corruption to power, justice and redemption. He became obsessed, he said recently, with the idea of retelling the ancient stories in a modern-crime fiction trilogy.

For the last 30 years, while churning out a succession of books that include some of the best crime novels ever written, he worked on the ambitious project in fits and starts, sometimes despairing but never giving up.

“City of Ruins” marks the conclusion of his saga of Rhode Island mobster turned Las Vegas gambling tycoon Danny Ryan. If Winslow is to be believed, it is also the last novel he will ever write as he turns his considerable talents to political activism.

The trilogy opened with “City on Fire” (2021) as Ryan and a handful of allies fled Providence, Rhode Island, after losing a gang war to the Italian Mafia. It continued with “City of Dreams” (2023) as Ryan tried, and failed, to build a new life in Los Angeles.

As “City in Ruins” opens, we find an older Ryan operating as a silent partner in two Las Vegas casinos. A man who was once a dock worker and underworld strong arm in Providence is now rich beyond his dreams, but he still wants more.

Why, he wonders. Is it greed? No. Not that.

“Be honest with yourself,” he says. “You want more money because money is power and power is safety. And you can never be safe enough. Not in this world.”

After all, the Italian mob and the FBI are still out there, hell bent on revenge and/or justice for the crimes he’s committed. For the people he has killed.

So Danny overreaches.

He schemes to purchase a prime piece of real estate on the Las Vegas strip to build a fabulous gambling resort, putting him in conflict with the city’s power brokers including a rival casino owner who has mob connections of his own.

Soon, the old enemies also are circling. Danny does what he can to prevent the power struggle from turning violent, but through a series of miscalculations, bullets start flying, endangering not only his gambling empire but his life and the lives of those he loves.

While “City in Ruins” can be read as a standalone, readers would be best served by reading the trilogy from the beginning. With his compelling characters, his vivid prose, and his exploration of universal themes, Winslow has produced a masterpiece of modern crime fiction.

Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including “The Dread Line.”

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